Payback
by burnthehousedown
Summary: A furious Regina barges into Mary Margaret's apartment to give Emma a piece of her mind, but her plans change when she hears the shower running upstairs...
1. Chapter 1

****Disclaimer:** **The show, the characters, the sexual tension between Emma and Regina, none of it belongs to be *sobs*

**AN: **This story is a compilation of different prompts from the OUAT Kink Meme on livejournal. Let me know what you think! Reviews are love :)

Storming into Mary Margaret's apartment, Regina was taken aback by the emptiness that greeted her. Neither Mary nor Emma was around and the Mayor simmered on the spot for a moment, at a loss for how to vent her rage. However, her newfound stillness allowed her to pick up on the sound of water coming from upstairs. One of them must be in the shower, she thought, and she didn't much care which one it was. The chance to embarrass either of them in such a way was too much for her to resist, so she made her way quietly upstairs, careful not to tread too heavily as she approached the bathroom door.

Regina grasped the doorknob, turned it slowly and pushed the door open ajar as gently as she could. A light, melodious voice bounced off the tiles and sent a disconcerting buzz through Regina's veins, but she wouldn't let herself get distracted by the song or the singer. She deduced that it must be Emma in the bathroom – she knew that honey-like tone anywhere. Not that she thought about Emma's voice a lot; the blonde just happened to have great difficulty keeping her mouth shut in the Mayor's presence – an immense annoyance, Regina insisted to herself. She stepped through the doorway and onto the tiles, preparing herself for a piercing shriek, or something of the sort.

There was no reaction from Emma, though, because she had her back turned to the doorway. Steam had covered the glass door of the shower, obscuring the figure inside, but Regina could still make out shapes and, seeing that the blonde was absorbed in rinsing her hair, she allowed herself to lean against the wall and observe her victim, certain that this would only increase Emma's torment when she realized the Mayor was with her. Regina's eyes swept over Emma's raised arms, the curve of her waist and stopped when they reached the bottom of her spine. The Mayor was almost frightened to let her gaze move lower, all too aware of the effect that Emma's graceful – _graceful?_ – back was having on her. Then the Deputy turned around.

Regina was so stunned by her full-frontal view of Emma Swan that she barely registered the scream that shot from the blonde's mouth. It only took a moment for the Mayor to come to her senses, though, and step towards the shower, speaking through the glass. "Shhh stop it! Do you want the whole building to think you have an intruder?"

"I do!" Emma shouted hysterically.

"No, you don't," Regina argued, her eyes sliding down the exquisite body in front of her. Emma quickly moved her arms in an attempt to cover herself, but her skin still burned from the Mayor's gaze. "Do you really think I'd hurt you?"

"Get out of here." Emma was starting to panic. What was this woman up to?

"No – not until you explain why Henry arrived home at eight o'clock tonight when he was meant to be at home all evening, doing his homework."

"He told me that you said it was fine for me to take him out to dinner! What was I supposed to think?"

"You're supposed to assume that Henry is going to lie to you if he thinks it will mean that he gets to spend more time with you."

"And what do you expect me to do – ignore my own child when he wants to spend time with me?"

"My, you do care a lot, don't you, Miss Swan?" These acerbic words brought Emma back to her current situation and she decided that enough was enough.

"We can do this another time. When I'm not naked."

"But your lack of clothing makes arguing with you so much more enjoyable, Miss Swan."

Emma tried to calm her breathing as she registered the seductive tone in the older woman's voice. "Can you _please _leave? You're making me uncomfortable."

"Really?" Emma regretted the words as soon as she heard herself saying them and saw the glint that they instilled in Regina's eyes. "Would you be more comfortable if I was in there with you?"

"No," Emma sputtered, but Regina was already stepping out of her heels, shrugging off her jacket and opening the door, giving her a perfect view of Emma's body. She tried not to gasp at the blonde's beauty as she pulled the door closed behind her and stepped under the water, letting it soak through her remaining clothes.

Emma staggered back into the corner of the shower, terrified at this new development. Well, terrified and thrilled. Regina's shirt began to cling to her skin and Emma had to fight to keep her eyes away from the Mayor's breasts, barely concealed by a lacy bra. "What the hell are you doing?" she gasped. This was not supposed to happen. Not like this.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Regina replied, moving forward to pin Emma against the wall with her own body. "If you're going to blatantly ignore my desire for you to stay out of Henry's life, you're going to have to pay for it – and there's only one thing I would want as payment from you, Miss Swan. Unfortunately, you've made it much too easy by removing your clothes for me." Emma felt Regina's smirk as the older woman pressed her lips to the blonde's, stealing her breath with a searing kiss. For a moment, she struggled beneath the Mayor's grasp, but in the process, her knee found it's way between the brunette's thighs. The ensuing moan that came from Regina sent a shiver through the younger woman and suddenly, she wasn't so interested in escaping the shower.

When Emma intensified the kiss, running her tongue along Regina's lower lip, the Mayor's legs grew shaky and Emma had to hold her up to keep her from slipping. "You want this?" Regina whispered, her face inches from the blonde's.

"Yes." All the fear and anger had left Emma's voice, replaced by a yearning that sent heat straight to Regina's core when she heard it.

"Well…" That was all the Mayor was able to get out before Emma clasped her hand around Regina's neck and brought her mouth to her own once more.

Regina was thrown by the blonde's sudden enthusiasm, but that wasn't going to stop her from getting exactly what she wanted. One hand moved to palm Emma's breast, eliciting a soft groan, while the other ventured further down the blonde's body, pausing to circle her naval before dipping below her pubic bone and gliding along her core. Emma's breath hitched at this contact and she pulled away from Regina's lips. "Don't you dare tease me," she murmured into the Mayor's shoulder.

"I believe I'm the one giving orders here, Miss Swan," Regina replied as she slid a finger inside the blonde, "but I'm not inclined to torture my victims."

She began to build up a steady rhythm and Emma's breath grew more ragged with every thrust. When she came, a well of pleasure exploding inside of her, Regina swallowed her scream with a kiss, capturing Emma's lips in her own. Regina held onto the younger woman until she had recovered enough to stand on her own, then moved away, wanting to give her some space. Looking into eyes that were filled with so much she didn't understand, Emma stepped forward and began to unbutton the Mayor's shirt, her fingers lingering on the skin beneath her collarbone. "Why don't we stay in here for a while?" she said, and they found each other, while the water washed over them.


	2. Chapter 2

When the water unexpectedly turned freezing cold, both women lurched for the door and jumped out of the shower with supersonic speed. Laughter echoed around the bathroom as Emma grabbed onto the Mayor's bare arm, trying to steady herself. When she looked up and her eyes met the brunette's, her laughter quickly subsided and she reached around to turn off the shower. She was suddenly all too aware of her nakedness and crossed her arms in front of her chest in an attempt to stave off her embarrassment, to no avail.

"Sorry about that," the blonde muttered. "There's only so much hot water in this place and I guess we were in there for a while…"

"I guess we were." The Mayor's soft smile dispelled Emma's self-consciousness in a second and she soon felt a smile lifting the corners of her mouth as well.

"Too bad we had to get out before we were finished," Emma shot back, pulling the only bath towel off the rack and wrapping it around her body.

"Is there one I can use?" Regina asked, the coldness she was beginning to feel taking precedence over Emma's previous comment. She was twisting her head around, trying to spot another towel somewhere in the room, and Emma couldn't help but stand and watch her as water dripped from her cropped hair onto her shoulders and ran all the way down her body, which by now felt like familiar territory to the Deputy. However, that didn't lessen its appeal one bit.

"I think I like you just the way you are, _Madame Mayor_," Emma smirked as she took a step closer to the woman in front of her. Leaning in so that her lips were almost touching Regina's ear, she inhaled the intoxicating scent that surrounded the brunette before opening her mouth and whispering, "Payback." With that, Emma was bolting out the door and running down the hallway to her room, not bothering to look back in order to see whether she was being followed. She knew that she was.

Flinging the door to her bedroom open, Emma paused, gasping for air. Only then did she turn around, just in time to see Regina fly into the room and knock her onto her bed, laughing hysterically and falling down on top of her. When they had both caught their breath, the Mayor looked down at the towel that was separating her naked body from that of the blonde. Her eyes lighting up, she rolled gracefully off the Deputy and grasped hold of the towel, yanking it away from Emma in one swift movement. "Much better," Regina declared as she allowed her gaze to sweep over Emma's newly exposed and still slightly glistening skin. After tossing the towel onto the floor, Regina shifted so that she was once again on top of the blonde. She relished the shiver she elicited from Emma as she traced her lips as lightly as possible from her shoulder up to her jaw and uttered, "I prefer an even playing field."

The sound of a door slamming downstairs froze both women exactly where they were. Emma could feel the Mayor's breath on her cheek and the pounding of Regina's heart, accentuated by their sudden stillness and silence, caused her own pulse to speed up.

"Emma?" A voice floated through the apartment. "Emma, are you home?" Regina's breath seemed to hitch at the realization that Snow – Mary Margaret was in the same apartment as her. While she was naked. With Emma lying beneath her. Who also happened to be naked. No, Regina was not comfortable with any part of this situation.

When they heard a soft rustle of grocery bags being unpacked and the clang of pots being placed on the stove, Regina managed to compose herself enough to move from her position and detach herself from Emma. At least, she tried to.

"Oh no you don't," Emma said as quietly as possible, refusing to loosen her grip on Regina's arm. The brunette's dark eyes widened in dread as she was pulled back down onto the bed and rolled onto her back, trapped there by the weight of Emma's body. The blonde smiled down at her with all the mischief in the world – _all _the worlds – and used her left hand to pin both of Regina's arms above her head. "You're not going anywhere."

Regina couldn't let this happen; it was too humiliating. "But your – "

"My what?" Emma cut her off, but the Mayor was incapable of any sort of response. Emma had punctuated her question by placing her free hand on the brunette's core and promptly began tracing her entrance with one of her fingers. When the finger in question slid inside her and curled deliciously back towards its owner, it took all of Regina's strength not to vocalize the pleasure Emma was giving her. "Do you want me to keep going?"

Regina glared up at the infuriating woman above her, but after an agonizingly long moment, she gave in and nodded her head ever so slightly, scared to even whisper. Emma didn't seem to have the same problem.

"I was hoping you'd say that." The blonde was speaking almost directly into her ear, but her voice was still too loud for Regina's liking. The Mayor bit her lip to suppress her moans as Emma began to thrust in and out of her, grinding her own core against Regina's hip. Soon, though, the heat of Emma's body, the feel of her lips on her skin, it all became too much for Regina. Just as she heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, the blonde started to stroke her throbbing clit with her thumb and a gasp escaped her mouth at the contact.

Regina couldn't even describe the horror that she felt at that moment, but it doubled when there was a knock at the door. "Are you in there, Emma?"

"Yes," Emma called out, a smirk spreading across her face. "Just changing my clothes."

"Okay. Dinner will be ready pretty soon."

"Thanks Mary." The blonde hadn't paused in her ministrations and Regina could feel a climax building inside of her. Although it was the last thing she wanted to do, she focused her efforts on holding off as long as she could, but her resolve was no match for the look of pure desire on Emma's face as she bent down to capture the brunette's lips with her own. Regina could feel herself clench around the Deputy's hand and the world turned impossibly bright around her as she came. She didn't even notice the scream that was only partially muffled by the blonde's kiss.

Emma pulled back and the Mayor could see that the smirk had returned to her face. _Just wait until I get you exactly where I want you_, Regina thought with anticipation, but neither of them was smirking after they heard the hint of concern in Mary Margaret's voice.

"Emma, are you okay?" The door was opened without warning and Mary Margaret entered the room before Emma or Regina could move a muscle. It took the schoolteacher a moment to process the sight before her, but once it registered in her brain, she was running out of the bedroom as fast as humanly possible.

"I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry." She gushed from behind the door.

Emma and Regina clumsily untangled themselves and practically fell off the bed. Emma pulled on some underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of track pants before going to her closet and throwing Regina a robe. It was a little skimpy, but it would have to do.

"It's okay," Emma assured Mary as Regina pulled the robe more tightly around her and threw Emma a look as if to say, _do I really need to go out there?_

All the blonde could do was apologize with her eyes before stepping out into the hall, still at a loss of how she was going to explain this. Regina sighed and closed her eyes. _It's a damn good thing I love this woman_, she thought, and when she realized what she had just admitted to herself, she was even more terrified of what was waiting for her outside of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Thank you so much to all of you who've added this story to your alerts and favorites list! The reviews have been wonderful as well :) I'm not too happy with this chapter, but it seems like I've been working on it forever now and I felt terrible about leaving you waiting. Anyway, I'm pretty sure there'll be another chapter after this, maybe introducing some of the fairy tale elements of the show - I haven't done that in any of my OUAT fics yet - so hopefully that will turn out a bit better than this.

Mary Margaret couldn't bring herself to meet her roommate's gaze when she appeared in the hallway. The last thing she had ever wanted to do was walk in on Emma like that, but finding her with Regina…it was all just too much to comprehend. Leaning against the wall outside the door, she kept her eyes on the opposite side of the hallway and did her best to calm her breathing.

"Mary, I – " Emma couldn't think of any words that would make this better. Taking in the look of distress on the schoolteacher's face, she decided to let her speak first instead of saying something that might traumatise her even further.

"I didn't know you – I didn't know _she _was in there," Mary uttered.

"_She _is out here now." The schoolteacher jumped at the sound of Regina's voice and spun to finally face Emma – and the dark-haired woman behind her. "I'm sorry you had to go through that _harrowing_ experience, dear, but you really should learn to knock." The derogatory tone the Mayor had adopted sparked a fire in Mary's stomach. Wasn't she even a little embarrassed about what she had caught her doing with Emma? In _her _apartment?

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see what I did when I opened it. I mean: I didn't imagine that _anyone_ would agree to sleep with you, Madame Mayor, let alone Emma." Watching Regina's face fall as these words left her mouth was worth all the effort it took to instil them with a cutting edge. Mary certainly wasn't the malicious type, but she could be, when she wanted to.

"Excuse me?" Regina's voice, on the other hand, had lost all of its venom. Emma began to walk towards her roommate, hoping to stem the disaster that she could feel brewing around them, but the schoolteacher stopped her in her tracks when she continued to speak.

"I wouldn't have thought that someone without a heart could be capable of love." A cold laugh escaped Mary Margaret and she fixed Regina with a menacing glare. "But I guess what you two were doing doesn't really require love, does it?"

That jolted Emma out of her state of shock. "Mary, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Don't worry," the Mayor interjected with ire. "You can't expect someone who never has sex to be very understanding about it."

"Regina!" Now Emma was torn between defending her roommate – her friend – and standing up for her…for her…she didn't even know what Regina was to her. Why did she feel so protective towards her, then?

Mary Margaret's mouth was now hanging open, but she soon recovered herself. "Emma, I don't like what's happening here."

The blonde turned to her roommate and saw the disquiet in her eyes. She didn't want the woman who had been so kind to her to feel like she was betraying her, but she wasn't ready to throw away what she had with Regina – not when she still hadn't come to grips with it herself. "Can we talk about it later, Mary? Please, I want to explain it to you and I don't feel like I can do that right now."

"You mean with her here?" Mary retorted, but Emma didn't have a chance to reply before Regina butted in.

"What's there to explain?" she asked the blonde, the warning in her voice only partially concealing the hurt that Emma could tell lay underneath her words.

"Nothing," Emma tried to backtrack. "It's just – "

"You can't be with me without everyone in the town denigrating you for it."

"No, that's not – I mean, I'm not worried about – "

"Can you really blame them?" Mary Margaret chimed in. "There isn't a fibre of your being that's capable of focussing on anyone's needs but your own. How could anyone respect a person who offers themselves to you like that – as if they were some sort of slave?"

"Mary – "

"I have no intention of making Emma my slave," Regina shot back at the schoolteacher.

"Then what are your intentions, _Madame Mayor_?"

"That's none of your business, Miss Blanchard, and I don't appreciate the tone that you're taking with me."

"That's it – the two of you, put your talons away. This is _not _how you are going to behave around each other. Got it?" The two brunettes glowered at each other before averting their gazes and nodding stiffly in acceptance of Emma's words. Mary then turned with pleading eyes to her roommate and drew closer before speaking again.

"Emma, are you sure you know what you're – "

"Yes, I'm sure." Emma's voice was laced with determination and something else – something that only Mary Margaret recognised, but she didn't know from where: maybe from another life, maybe from a dream. The schoolteacher searched for this something in Regina's eyes, but all she was able to discern was the shield that the Mayor used to shut everyone out of her life. How Emma managed to break through – if she even had – Mary Margaret had no idea.

"How could she love you?" she uttered, turning back to Emma. "How could she, when she's so consumed with her own motives and desires?"

Regina prevented Emma from answering the question. "You have no right to make assumptions about my feelings. Besides, you were the one who insisted that what Emma and I were…_doing_…doesn't require love."

This was getting way to intimate for Emma's liking. More than that, though, the confidence behind the Mayor's words caused a dull pain in her chest that reminded her no matter how Regina gave herself over physically to the blonde, she might never gain access to her heart. "I'm going to go throw Regina's clothes in the dryer," Emma said to no one in particular, and before either of the brunette's could respond, she was walking down the hallway to the bathroom, leaving them to continue fighting without any interference.

"Should I even ask why your clothes needto be dried?" Mary Margaret's voiced was filled with cynicism.

"Not unless you want to know," Regina jibed. She turned away from the other woman, letting go of a breath that she hadn't realised she'd been holding. "I do care about her, you know," the Mayor confided, keeping her eyes trained on the wall in front of her, "as much as it pains me to admit it."

Mary Margaret took a tentative step towards the woman who had always been so antagonising towards her and now had her in a state of complete shock at the fact that she had left any piece of herself vulnerable to attack. "I know I'm not in any position to judge, but…well, it didn't seem like you did, just then…and all your fights in public – "

Regina finally turned her gaze back to the younger woman. "I don't display my emotions on command, Miss Blanchard."

"I don't have any problem with that," Mary backtracked. "I'm just worried that Emma might."

"Well I'll be sure to discuss it with her when you're not around to analyse the conversation."

A soft sigh escaped the schoolteacher, but she wasn't going to give up – not when Emma's happiness was involved. "I just don't want either of you to get hurt."

"I can take care of myself, dear, and I promise you, whatever my intentions are, they do not include causing Emma any harm."

"Okay, then." The words were meant to be a concession, but their hesitant tone and the suspicion that lingered in Mary Margaret's eyes drove Regina to lengths that she would never have imagined herself going to, simply to prove the woman in front of her wrong.

"I love her. Is that enough for you? Are you glad that you got that out of me?"

Mary Margaret's mouth gaped open as if she wanted to say something, but just couldn't find the words. Instead, they heard Emma's voice cut through the heavy silence.

"You what?" The blonde's voice was quiet, and what Regina heard in it made her stomach lurch.

"You weren't meant to hear that," Regina offered as an explanation, trying to instil strength in her words.

"I didn't think…after just…I didn't think that you would feel that way yet."

"Well, I do."

Mary Margaret just stared at the Mayor, unable to understand how she was the same woman who had walked out of Emma's bedroom just a short while ago. "I think you two should talk alone. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Thank you," Regina said to her as she headed towards the stairs, further surprising the schoolteacher.

"You're welcome," she managed, before beginning to descend the stairs. She heard her roommate and the woman who allegedly loved her murmur softly as they moved back into Emma's bedroom and something inside of her wished for them to work through whatever problems this had caused. She was slightly startled by the thought – it felt to her like changing sides in the middle of a war – but she couldn't deny that it was there and that it was something she honestly desired, for reasons she still couldn't clearly decipher.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Hey guys! I am so, so sorry for not updating until now. Life has been pretty hectic with school and whatnot, but rest assured that I would never leave you hanging like that forever ;) I hope you all like this chapter – I feel like it might be as far as this story can go, but let me know what you think. I'm keen to try some other Swan Queen scenarios, as well :)

Closing the door behind her, Regina drew in a shuddering breath. She couldn't believe she had let herself be baited like that, allowed Mary Margaret to make her let her guard down. Nevertheless, she had, and now she had to deal with the consequences. Did she even love Emma? She supposed she must: she had heard the words come out of her own mouth, even if she didn't quite know when or how this love had emerged.

"Regina," Emma began, but the brunette cut her off before she could say anything else.

"I don't want you to read more into this than you should." Regina's voice was cold, slowly trying to repair the walls that she had torn down herself only moments before. "You know how I feel now, but that shouldn't change anything between us. We're both getting what we want out of this relationship and when we aren't anymore, I don't expect you to stick around. Everyone has to look after their own interests, after all."

"Regina," Emma tried again, reaching out to grasp Regina's arm, dissuading her from interrupting a second time. "This 'relationship' has barely started. I don't expect you to have a clear idea of your feelings right now – I certainly don't – but," she took in a breath, spurred on by the terrified look she saw in Regina's eyes and the desire she felt to quell that fear, "it means a lot that you think you could love me…that you see that as a possibility, for the future."

"That's not what I said," Regina murmured softly, almost too quiet for Emma to decipher what she had said.

"I know, but – "

"I told you I love you – now, at this moment – and that's how I feel. Take it or leave it, I don't care."

"Regina, I – " This was too much for Emma. She wanted Henry, and after today, she thought she might even want Regina, but the certainty of the woman standing before her – it wasn't something she could comprehend. Was this person even Regina? She had no idea, but it seemed like the Mayor had been replaced with some brilliant impersonator, fooling everyone around her, except Emma. Regina would never have surrendered herself to love so quickly, Emma was sure of it. "What is your angle here?" she finally continued, watching a black cloud settle over Regina's face as she absorbed the blonde's words.

"I have no angle, Miss Swan. For once, I've been duped at my own game." This is ridiculous, the brunette thought. I don't even know where this love has come from, so how can I care so much about it? Regina couldn't help feeling like she had lost something invaluable in this exchange, in pushing Emma away by revealing too much of herself. "I can see now that this isn't going to work anymore, so if you'll just let me wait until my clothes are dry, I'll be out of your hair. You'll have to speak to Mary Margaret, but I'm sure we can keep this between the three of us and you can pretend it never even happened."

Emma sighed. Who would have thought that Regina Mills had such low self-esteem? "That isn't going to be possible Regina."

"What do you mean? I know Miss Blanchard can be careless, but I don't think she's the type to go blabbing all over town about – "

"I mean, I'm not going to be able to forget everything that's happened today," Emma broke in, causing a heavy silence to fall between them. "I don't want to forget."

The whole world seemed to stop as Regina took in the blonde's words. It had been so long since she had had something worth holding onto and the fact that Emma didn't want to lose it either made her heart seize up, as if someone's hand was clenched around it, squeezing until she couldn't take it anymore. "You don't?" she whispered, her eyes beginning to shine with tears as Emma stepped closer to her.

"No. I – I actually like you." Emma grinned as Regina let out a sharp laugh at her remark. "I think I always did. I just didn't want to believe it because that would mean too much was at stake. You, Henry – I couldn't handle having that much to lose. Maybe now, though…" Her voice trailed off as she stared into the eyes of the woman in front of her. Everything was colours and heat and liquid, changing so fast and melding together, so that neither of them knew who they were or where they were going. All they could see was the moment that surrounded them, keeping them safe and somehow making everything they felt crystal clear.

As their lips met, Regina felt her breath catch in her chest and the hand around her heart release its grip. She brought her own hands up to tangle in Emma's hair and pulled her closer still, wanting desperately for their bodies to be fused together, maybe for eternity; she wouldn't mind. Emma's tongue dragged along her lower lip, seeking entrance to her mouth, which Regina gladly gave. They made their way over to the bed and collapsed onto it, lost to everything except each other. They simply let their hands and mouths explore, content to let the world fall away as long as they had each other to hold onto.

Emma untied the robe that was covering Regina and gently pushed it off her shoulders. Moving to straddle the brunette's legs, Emma looked down at the woman beneath her, now completely exposed and radiating a mixture of unease and exhilaration. "You're beautiful," the blonde said, her expression one of pure adoration as she held Regina's gaze. The mayor inhaled a shaky breath, struggling to comprehend how she could deserve this, after all she had done. Emma chased all of those thoughts from her mind, though, when she began to kiss down Regina's neck and chest, covering her body with symbols of affection. The brunette clasped her arms tightly around the woman above her and realised that maybe – just maybe – she finally had a chance at a happy ending.


End file.
